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Offline cudakidd53

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Fitbit Review
« on: September 04, 2015, 05:45:51 PM »
So after a trip to the Dr. in April, where he informs me that I'm fat, and have high blood pressure, I decided to get off my backside and address the issue.  Started at 205 lbs. with BP in the Hypertensive/High boarder region and 5' 10" height.

Figured I'd get a Fitbit to monitor things and possibly motivate myself to keep at it.  Settled on the HR which monitors steps, heart rate, calories burned, hours slept and times awake/restless, flights of stairs climbed, miles traveled and will track work out time via a stop watch and tells time and date too.  Price was around $130 and I added a Fitbit scale, that links to the computer and the Fitbit phone app. for about the same price.  Why the scale you ask?  Well, I step on it daily after the 3 S's of the morning and it takes the reading giving me my weight down to tenths of a pound and BMI in % which is logged and graphed via the computer and phone apps. which I cannot lie about or kid myself that the scale must be off!

Using these to devices, limiting myself to 1760 calories a day and trying to keep sodium at 1500mg a day, I'm down to 188 and a BMI of 26% fat.  I use "My Fitness Pal" to count calories and track sodium and other nutrients.  No formal work-out other than chasing after the dogs training for and competing in Field Trials.

Fitbit Review:

Uses an internal, rechargeable battery which it says lasts for up to 5 days on a charge.  More like 3-4 max, less if you're active etc.  I learned from a friend at work to just plug it into the truck USB to charge it while driving to work since no steps etc. are really involved.  Heart rate from idiot drivers yes, but why log the negative!  ;)

The calorie app/Fitbit sync is great, as it cross references with the Fitbit data calories burned and let's you know how much more you COULD eat if you're trying to maintain a target weight- gotta ignore that if you're trying to loose!  You can scan UPC codes on food to auto enter calories and the data base on other things is awesome.  You can even enter your own recipes and it'll break them down by calories from servings made by the recipe.  You can enter fractions of servings etc. so it's an accurate way to see what you're really stuffing in the ol' pie hole!

You can eat what you want provided you enter and track it and still loose weight- you can also go over and it'll tell you the damage done when you close the daily log with a message of "You'd weigh __ in 5 weeks if every day was like today". This summer, there were a few days (last weekend) that were "canwich" days.....BEER IS FOOD!

My Fitness Pal with Fitbit app tracks steps, heart rate (current & resting), miles traveled, calories burned, floors climbed, time active, time sleeping, water drank, lbs. left til reaching goal, calories eaten & burned.  Deeper logs include sleep cycle, nutrients and many other options.

It's pretty acurate with its counting and tracking of what it monitors- obviously it uses averages for step measurement etc.  Stairs climbed counts changes in elevation of every 10' as a flight of stairs and only logs going up.  Remember this for later.

Checking time was initially done by tapping the small screen, an upgrade has it now done via a flick of the wrist.  This can be turned off back to tap on if desired.  It lights up the bedroom in the dark pretty good so that drains the battery some while you sleep and would be a tactical issue, but since it can be bypassed should be GTG.  Further taps scroll through each log.  Sleep and weight are only logged via the phone or computer.

Would I recommend it?  YES, because it works, and I'm only scratching the surface of the abilities of them both.  Ultimately, the key feature is you using them, they're not magic, but a tool.

Things you must do:

Be realistic, because while on horseback it counts twice the steps and you're not making any of them!  In Missouri training the dogs, I topped out at 49,000 steps one day, climbed 175 flights of stairs (hills of Missouri was what I hinted at with the 10 elevation thing) and burned ridiculous calories.  Now, clearly, I'd made my 10,000 step goal each day on my own, and it does read MY heart rate, not a horses so calories burned weren't skewed as far as steps verse heart rate.  Some common sense must be applied in similar situations- working a chainsaw, hammering if worn on dominant wrist and other similar activities will skew things as well.

Keep it charged, the harder it works, the faster the battery drains- horseback burned it up with all the tracking.

The scale can be used by up to 8 different persons and it'll log each different- don't know how all that works, cause I'm the only one doing it in the house.

Hope this helps anyone interested in "what it does and is it worth it"?
2012 Silverado LTZ - Duramax
Christian since 1975 - Field Trial Brittanys - NRA Lifetime Member

"When you're dead, you don't know you're dead. Hence, dealing with this fact is not difficult. It is only hard for those still living around you.....It's the same when you're stupid."

Offline BobbyB

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Re: Fitbit Review
« Reply #1 on: September 04, 2015, 05:57:27 PM »
Excellent review.
So, Bobby...being the calculating trained warrior NCO that you are.  Take the appropriate action, Execute!
your standard grunt level CQB is just putting rounds and rounds on scary stuff till it stops scaring you!

Offline rpar86

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Re: Fitbit Review
« Reply #2 on: September 04, 2015, 07:50:25 PM »
Wife got a fitbit last year after Christmas (NO it was not a gift to her from me!), but just the basic one with the 5 little status lights. Pretty sure my doc (if I would make time to go find one) would say I'm fat too at 5'11" and 210lb, but I wouldn't disagree with him/her.  I think I need to get one of these things to keep myself honest and start tracking what I eat and when I work out. Bought an elliptical off Craigslist a couple months back and have probably used it 6 times.  :-\
Ryan
2006 GMC 3500 6.6 CCLB SRW 4x4

 

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